Christians celebrate Easter in Holy Land

(April 09, 2012) Thousands of Christians gathered in Jerusalem for Easter Sunday to commemorate Jesus Christ's resurrection, crowding into one of Christianity's holiest churches, worshipping, singing and praying. Catholics and Protestants took turns to hold liturgies within the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried. Inside, clergymen celebrated Mass, the air thick with incense fumes. There are about 110,000 Arab Christians in the Holy land, along with thousands of Christian foreign workers, asylum seekers, and Russian-speaking immigrants. Tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims from outside the region also flock to Jerusalem and the Holy Land for Easter rites. Outside the ancient city's walls, several hundred Protestants gathered in the Garden Tomb, where they believe Jesus was buried. Meanwhile, thousands of other Christians belonging to Eastern Orthodox churches, who celebrate Easter using a different calendar from their Catholic and Protestant brethren, marked Palm Sunday. In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, dozens of Greek Orthodox Palestinian Christians also celebrated Palm Sunday.